This invention relates to educational aids.
The invention may be regarded as a development of the conventional math-beam or math-balance. In a math-balance, a horizontal beam is provided, having weight stations, at which weights can be attached. Various mathematical relationships can be demonstrated to children, who discover how the weights can be manipulated to balance the beam.
The invention also has links to the technology disclosed in patent publication WO-95/32778 (Steane, Dec 7, 1995).
One of the problems with a conventional math balance is that the balance cannot represent negative numbers. Of course, the notion of subtraction of a small positive number from a larger positive number can be demonstrated on the conventional balance; but the different concept of the negative numbers as a series of numbers extending away from zero in the parallel but opposite sense to positive numbers, is traditionally much harder to teach, and the traditional math balance provides no assistance.